Author: Karol

Sweet Shit Saturday #011 (WTF Stop Popping Edition)

A Sweet Shit Saturday like none other. But you’ll have to actually read it to find out why …

I don’t know anything about bikes. I just know I like to ride and I never want to own a car again. I don’t care if it’s a tricycle, a mountain bike, or a motorbike. I like the open air and the speed. I like the feeling of childhood carefree freedom. I like doing bunny hops. I like jumping curbs. I like riding through mud puddles even though I only have one pair of pants and probably shouldn’t do that.

But back to the not knowing anything about bikes thing. I bought a bike at a swap meet a few weeks ago for 180 PLN (that’s like $55 USD). The front brake didn’t work and the gears didn’t shift well, but it was a solid piece of machinery.

Except pretty much every time I rode it for more than a couple hours I’d get a flat.

That was annoying.

I asked the guy at the closest bike shop (who also served as my tire tube replacement guy) if there was something wrong or if I needed a new tire. He said no, it looks good.

But I finally got fed up and asked my HTLA members (in passing) if they knew anything about bikes. I got a lot of awesome responses. Long story short: I took the bike to a different shop and the guy said the tire was jacked up and needed replacing. It was a 2.5km walk to this bike shop as opposed to the 0.5km walk to the bike shop I had been going to. Which one will I continue going to? Probably the one that fixed my bike. ;)

And before you get on my case for not changing my own tire tubes: it’s 20PLN (~$6USD) for a new tube and the labor. New tire and tube and labor? 50PLN. :)

Enough about bikes. Oh wait. Thinking about biking Route 66 next year. I’ll have to learn a little more about bikes before then.

OK, enough about bikes. Sweet linkage awaits!

After 15 Years of Practice by Derek Sivers

You know how I mentioned before that there is only one person I would ever work for? I lied. There are 2. Derek Sivers is my hero and I have done my best to devour every piece of content he has created over the past few years.

I was a CDBaby customer back in the day and I remember reading the bios and thinking “wow, this Derek guy is a genius.” Little did I know at the time how right I was. haha

Fuck it. I’m dedicating this week to Derek Sivers. Other sweet links will have to wait.

5 more must-read articles on Sivers.org:

Why I gave away my company to charity by Derek Sivers

By putting his company in a trust and selling it for $22 million Derek did something most of us could never imagine doing. Yes, he does get 5% of that paid to himself every year out of the trust, but if you dwell on that fact you’re missing the point.

Trust but verify by Derek Sivers

Lessons on delegation from a guy who has been living the world traveling laptop life since most of us were in diapers. OK, that’s not true. Derek’s not that old. But still. He’s been rocking that lifestyle for a long time.

You should feel pain when unclear by Derek Sivers

I love this article. And it’s one of the reasons I edit the articles on this blog so heavily. Wasted words = misconstrued message. That said, I know I’m not doing a good job in all aspects of my message. It’s a constant process.

Why you need your own company by Derek Sivers

Do I need to keep writing “by Derek Sivers”? Yes, I do. Your own company = a platform to test your ideas. Testing your ideas = happiness.

6 things I wish I knew the day I started Berklee by Derek Sivers

All of these are important, but #3 struck the biggest chord with me: Nobody will teach you anything. You have to teach yourself. It’s very Iron Mind-like. :)

That’s enough for today. What’s your favorite Derek Sivers article? Oh, don’t have one? Here are the archives: http://sivers.org/blog

Find one and let me know. ;)

How To Relax

Important because we’ve forgotten how …

We’ve forgotten how to relax.

Somewhere throughout the years we unlearned this important trait.

Sitting in front of a TV is what most people do to “relax.” But that’s passive relaxation and due to the constant barrage of stimuli it’s not relaxation at all.

Those of us without a TV have other forms of passive relaxation that isn’t relaxing. Playing a computer game, mindlessly surfing the Web, checking twitter, checking e-mail, and so on.

Lately I’ve been practicing what I call active relaxation. It’s very simple. Ready?

How To Practice Active Relaxation

Active relaxation involves doing literally almost nothing.

1) Turn everything off. TV, phone, computer, iPod, everything.

Noise is OK. We can’t shut off the world. We can, however, shut off our world. The goal here is not to escape, but to just be.

2) Sit, breathe, and be still. Eyes can be open or closed.

This will depend on where you are. If I’m indoors when I practice active relaxation I close my eyes. If I’m outside I will sometimes keep my eyes open and focus on something fairly inactive, like the treetops.

3) Pay attention to what’s going on around you or to your thoughts.

Depending on where you are will most likely determine what you’re paying attention to. When I’m indoors my attention usually settles on something inward, but when I’m outside it’s a different experience.

I enjoy doing this exercise outside more than inside. When I do it inside (between writing sessions for example) it helps with clarity and focus. But when I practice active relaxation outside the results are a little more intense.

The best way I can explain it is it feels like rainbows and fireworks. :)

A special request from me today: At some point today (not tomorrow or the next day or next week or next month) take 5 or 10 minutes and practice active relaxation. Even if it’s immediately before going to bed.

Taking time for yourself is important and I know with our busy schedules it’s not always easy. But it’s a special request, which is like some kind of blood oath. Which means you might die if you don’t do it. (People die from blood oaths? What is a blood oath? I hope it’s nothing like blood pudding. Ugh. Do you know what’s in blood pudding? It’s worse than cooked congealed blood. Wait. It is cooked congealed blood.)

When you’re done come back here and let me know how you feel. :)

On Travel Snobbery (or Why You Should Be Proud of Your Travels No Matter How Infrequent)

A sad thing happen when someone starts traveling a lot. Here is how to overcome travel snobbery …

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” #16 on the Dalai Lama’s 18 rules to live by.

When I started CouchSurfing in early 2008 I started meeting lots of people who traveled regularly and had been all around the world.

When they’d ask me about my travels I wouldn’t have much to talk about. And some of them would make it worse by acting like holier-than-thou travelers.

My response would usually be something along the lines of “Uhh, well, I went to Poland…3 years ago.”

And I was embarrassed by that.

I’d been to more than half the states in the U.S. (touring with bands), Canada a few times, and Poland and Mexico twice a piece, but that didn’t seem spectacular enough.

I hadn’t been to the beaches of the Caribbean, or backpacked through Europe, or visited the Great Wall.

I just didn’t think I had any grand stories to tell and I was embarrassed when conversing with people who did.

Travel Is An Individual Experience

The more I thought about it, the more I realized:

a) It didn’t matter whether I was well-traveled or not.

and

b) I did have interesting stories to tell about the travels I had experienced.

I’d done two 3-week road trips around the U.S. on rock tours. The first covered about 3,000 miles and the second over 7,000. I didn’t think that was really anything special because I hadn’t left the homeland.

But the truth is they are special because they happened to me, they’re a part of my story, and I had an amazing time on each tour. Nobody can take that away from me, no matter how epic their around the world adventures.

There Is A Lot To See

U.S. citizens get flak for not being well-traveled. I can’t find verified statistics, but supposedly only 25% of Americans have passports. (Hey, no comments about me using the word Americans! Everybody in the world calls residents of the USA Americans. It is what it is, yeah?) It doesn’t matter if you never set foot outside of the United States because there is a lifetime of travel to experience there. Hell, there are probably a lifetime of travel experiences in each U.S. State, much less the whole country. (The same probably holds true for wherever you live.)

How To Feel Like You Belong

My trip to Germany is no better than your trip to Northern Wisconsin. Your trip to Dublin is no better than my trip to San Francisco. And so on …

They’re all personal journeys involving individual experiences and should be treated and respected as such.

What I finally did to get over my shyness in the presence of those more well-traveled was to start telling my stories like they were important and I was proud of them, because I was, I am.

The easiest way to get your stories sounding interesting is to write them down. Write them down (hopefully while you’re experiencing them) to the very last most interesting detail. Read the story aloud so you’re more comfortable telling it and then don’t worry about it. You don’t have to be perfect when retelling.

The trick is to not feel subpar when a travel snob overshadows your story with one of their own. Realize it’s on them and they have an ego that needs to be fed. Simply listen, feed their ego, make them feel good about it, and you’ll feel good about it too.

I love hearing stories about weekend camping trips just as much as I enjoy hearing stories about year long trips to Asia. If the storyteller is passionate about what they’re talking about I’ll feel the passion listening to what they have to say.

Money Is No Excuse

Some people will complain that they really don’t have any travel stories to tell because they can’t afford it.

One of my favorite travel experiences was a 2 day/1 night canoe/camping trip on the Withlacoochee River in Florida. A group of 10 of us borrowed 3 canoes (had to strap one on top of a little Nissan!) and headed to the river.

Can you spot the gator? ;)

It’s there that I saw my first wild alligator. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but having gone 27 years without seeing an alligator I was ecstatic. The memory is burned in my mind. Learning we can coexist with such amazing creatures in the wild was a life affirming experience for me.

Then we set up camp on the banks of the Withlacoochee just 100 meters after seeing a whole group of gators. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but when you’re not at “official” campgrounds you have to set up camp wherever you find a decent spot.

Total cost of the trip? $30 for gas (petrol) and food.

It’s not about how much you spend, or even where you go, it’s about getting out there and doing things you enjoy doing with people you love and people you just met.

Nobody can take that away from you no matter how many languages they speak, how many stamps in their passports, or how many frequent flier miles they accumulate.

Not Enjoying Travel Is A Valid Excuse

Some people just don’t like to travel. That doesn’t mean they lack culture or aren’t interested in other people. It just means they don’t like to travel. Nothing more, nothing less.

So if you’re conversing with someone who’s never traveled anywhere and has no desire to there is still a lot to learn from them.

Find out what they are interested in.

What interesting sights are there to see and what fun things are there to do in their home towns?

Asking those questions to everybody you meet might just result in you having another travel story of your own to tell.

And when you do have travel stories to tell don’t annoy people with them. Share, don’t annoy. It’s a fine line and something I have to remind myself regularly.

As an aside, even now I’m not interested in visiting the most places, but simply new places (and revisiting old places). A lot of people I talk to rack up countries like a game. And that’s awesome! It’s just not for me and doesn’t have to be for you either.

Sweet Shit Saturday #010 (Giving Thanks Edition)

As promised, lots of people to thank for the How To Live Anywhere launch on Tuesday!

If you’re new here, every Saturday I write about awesome articles I’ve found around the Web. Usually it’s not focused on me. I am not that selfish or egotistical. :) But, this week was a little different, so I’m giving myself some leeway. ;)

The launch went exceedingly well. I didn’t sell out of the fast action bonus in one day like I had thought, but that’s OK. I know if I had used false scarcity I would have, but this course will be available forever! :)

Two affiliates had their best ever net income 24 hours online during the first 24 hours of launch. That is just awesome and I’m thrilled to have been a part of their success. I’m going to be sending affiliates a huge chunk of change next month and that feels great. (Currently, the affiliate program is only open to How To Live Anywhere members.)

If you didn’t already know, I believe in treating affiliates like the Kings and Queens they are. Most product owners have never been affiliates and don’t understand what it’s like. From 10:30am EST until Midnight EST on launch day I gave away pretty much all profits to affiliates. Meaning, commissions were set at 95%, so after Paypal fees and affiliate commissions I was making only $1-$2 per affiliate sale and loving every minute of it. :)

You may have seen a few articles/interviews/mentions around the Web, but if not, here they are …

Thank you. You rock for being here.

How To Live Anywhere Members

Obviously, thank you! I have been getting amazing feedback from you and it makes me even more thrilled that I actually released this course. :)

Guest Posts

I wrote two guest posts for launch day. Ideally, I would have liked to write more, but it just didn’t work out that way.

The Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Starting A Small Online Business on ZenHabits.net

How To Start A Revolution (or 3 Ways To Change The World) on TheMiddleFingerProject.org

Thank you Leo and Ash for allowing me to write for your awesome blogs!

Interviews

Sweet! I did a couple of text interviews for launch day …

How To Live Anywhere With Everett Bogue at FarBeyondTheStars.com

This is the second time Everett has interviewed me. I also interviewed him (in audio form) for HTLA. But you already know that if you bought it. :) Thanks Everett! (Everett is releasing his Minimalist Business guide on June 15. I’m sending the audio interview I did with him to my Freedom Fighters on that day. For nothing. No obligation to purchase. You get the audio interview as my thanks for being a Freedom Fighter, which is also free.)

How To Live Your Dreams, From Anywhere With Tammy Strobel at RowdyKittens.com

Tammy was nice enough to throw some awesome questions at me. :) We get into some detail about Limiting Beliefs. It’s an important conversation. Tammy also gave her Simply Car Free eBook and consulting time for everybody who purchased HTLA through her. Thanks Tammy!

Reviews / Mentions

Wooohooo! Quite a few reviews/mentions.

How To Live Anywhere – By WA Christopher J.

I’ve known Jim for ~10 years. We used to play basketball and rock together in good ole Sterling Heights, MI. He is currently on The Eternal Roadtrip in a car with 200,000 miles. He also writes literary masterpieces.

I’m Not Dead I’m Just Working On A Product (And Giving It Away Free For 24 Hours) by Corbett Barr

Corbett gave away his upcoming affiliate marketing course for free to anybody who purchased HTLA in the first 24 hours! Thanks Corbett!

Let’s Talk Freedom by Henri Junttila

Henri gave way both of his eBooks + an hour of consulting for everybody who bought HTLA through him. Awesome, thanks Henri!

How To Live Anywhere by David Damron

David gave away (I believe) every single one of his eBooks. In return, he had a great sales day. :) Thanks David!

A Minimalist Living Movie Vision Board by Charley Forness

Charley not only is giving away one of his upcoming products with HTLA purchase, but he also provided a video testimonial based on his success with HTLA. (I released Version 0.9 of HTLA on March 5, 2010 and he got it back then.)

How To Live Anywhere – A Review by Anthony Feint

Anthony actually reviewed the original Version 0.9 after he bought it back in March. Then he re-reviewed the new complete course. Thanks for that Anthony!

How To Live Anywhere and Enjoy Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom by Ivan Campuzano

I’ve only recently connected with Ivan and he wrote a great review of HTLA. Thanks Ivan!

How To Live Anyfrigginwhere Like A Boss by Greg Rollett

Greg wasn’t able to write a review for launch day because he had his own product launch going, but then he wrote a review anyway! Greg’s launch is BandWPThemes.com, a way to get your band’s Web site online with a sweet looking wordpress site in ~12 minutes. (Yes, there is video proof.)

How to Live and Work Anywhere by Rosalind Gardner

I’ve known Rosalind for probably 8 years but lost touch with her (and lots of other people) about 5 years ago. Rosalind wrote  a great write up of our recent conversation (I won 2 hours of consulting time with her in an Affiliate Summit charity auction, my way of getting back in touch while helping a good cause, hehe) and a review of HTLA. Thank you Rosalind!

Live and Work from Anywhere by Rasheed Hooda

Rasheed was an early adopter and got Version 0.9 of HTLA back in March. He wrote this review and also picked up the upgraded Long Haul HTLA. Thanks Rasheed!

Free Love Friday by Melissa Gorzelanczyk

Melissa gave me a shout out on her weekly Friday link round-up! Thanks Melissa.

ManVsDebt.com linked on his site under Featured Products I Love.

Baker rules. Thanks Baker!

Mnmlstlife.com linked on the side bar.

Abhishek e-mailed me and asked if he could put a 125×125 button on his Web site for my course without the affiliate link. He simply likes what I’m doing and wanted to help out. Thanks Abhishek, that is so cool!

Thanks to John Reese for sending a shout out to his crew yesterday! (Also, there’s an epic 45 minute interview with John in HTLA Long Haul so thanks for that too John!)

If I somehow missed you then I am a buttface. But send me an e-mail and I’ll be sure to give you credit ASAP! I will probably also kiss the ground you walk on and throw rice at random newlyweds. Just because I can.

Other Thanks

Thanks to Benny Lewis, Jonathan Mead, Jim Cockrum, Grace Gardner (no Web site rock star!), Brian Evans, and Lisa Sonora Beam for allowing me to interview them for HTLA! And thanks again to Leo Babauta, John Reese, Everett Bogue, Henri Junttila who I already thanked above, but who also allowed me to interview them! :)

Thank you to Charlie at CharfishDesign.com for kicking ass on the 5 HTLA PDF guides, the 125×125 button (it’s in my sidebar to your right) and also for hooking up some things on the sales page at the last minute.

Thanks to my Mastermind Group, because without their accountability and insights I might not be getting as much done as I have been.

Twitter + Testing/Tracking Nerd Alert!

There were a ton of mentions on twitter! I’m not sure how to thank all of them although I did respond to every tweet (I think) so if you tweeted you got thanks that way. :)

Interestingly, lots of people linked directly to the course and Twitter traffic made 3 sales! (The math nerd in me loves tracking these things. It’s a good business quality as well.)

Minimalist Testing/Tracking

In Everett Bogue’s Minimalist Business guide (mentioned earlier, available June 15 and that’s not an affiliate link) I wrote an article about minimalist tracking. It’s actually very easy to set up for most sites. For WordPress it’s a little bit trickier, but still doable. If enough people are interested I will send Everett an update on how to set up tracking for WordPress. It takes ~15 minutes from start to finish if you’re using Thesis Theme. Just a tad bit longer (and just a bit of technical knowhow) if you’re using a free theme.

Lots of people don’t seem to realize the power in testing/tracking and how simple it is to set up. For example, I know that Google.com has so far sent me 9 HTLA Long Haul Version sales with a conversion rate of 3.08%. Should I focus more on Google rankings? Probably a great idea. That’s ~$950 in profit from completely free traffic! Thanks for the free plane ticket to almost anywhere Google. ;)

Whoa, tangent! If you’re new here know that I go on lots of those …

Talk soon.

And thank you!

5 More Extraordinary Ways To Travel Like A Minimalist

Want to get more intense with your light traveling? Here are 5 more tips …

It has been an awesome couple of weeks during the How To Live Anywhere launch. Thank you for being a part of it! Let’s switch gears from all the business focused articles for at least a day, huh?

Last year, I wrote an article on ZenHabits called The Beginner’s Guide To Minimalist Travel. If you haven’t already read it, go ahead and check it out after we’re done here.

We’re going to take minimalist travel to the next level.

As an ultra light traveler (ok, technically not) my goal is not only to pack as little as possible, but everything I pack should have multiple uses.

As an example, I use the Dr Bronner’s soap I mentioned in The Beginner’s Guide as body wash, face wash, toothpaste, and laundry detergent. I stopped washing my hair with hair products almost a year ago so I don’t use it as shampoo, but it can also be used in place of your shampoo.

1) Use USB Rechargeable Electronics

If you’re traveling it’s a given that you’re going to bring electronics with you. Especially if you’re like me and you’re working as you travel. I’ve got a laptop, an iPod, a digital camera, a Flip Video camera, and a small flashlight (torch).

But I’ve cut my chargers down to the bare minimum.

While my laptop is charging (or I’m working) I charge most of my electronics.

My iPod charges with a small iPod cable and not the big iPod charger and the batteries to my Flip and flashlight charge using a small USB AA/AAA battery charger.

You can buy a USB battery charger almost anywhere that sells rechargeable batteries. If you can’t find it locally, Amazon has them.

Unfortunately, my digital camera has it’s own proprietary charger, but thankfully it’s very small.

2) Stick To One Credit Card and One ATM Card

The rationale for traveling with more (what I’ve heard from people I’ve met) seems to be “well, if something happens to one, I still have a back up.”

On the surface that seems like a great argument, but it’s completely unnecessary.

Let’s pretend you fall into the unfortunate situation of getting mugged. If you get mugged all of your credit cards will probably be taken. If you lose your wallet the same holds true. Having a backup in either of these worst-case-scenarios will be utterly useless. (Unless you happen to keep your cards in different places.)

Instead, stick to one credit card. Either one that gets you the most points or cashback or one that doesn’t charge international fees (my preference).

If you’re in the U.S. get a Capital One credit card. They don’t charge international fees so you never have to worry about being hit with the industry standard 3% fee for the “privelege” of using your card in another country.

Along with your no fee credit card, find a bank that offers no fee ATM withdrawals. Many online banks with corresponding stock trading accounts offer ATM cards that refund your ATM fees worldwide.

Additionally, sometimes banks in your home country will have an association with banks in other countries. For example, with my Bank of America ATM card I get fee free ATM withdrawals from any Westpac bank in Australia or New Zealand or Deutsche Bank here in Wroclaw, Poland. :)

Confession: I also travel with an Amex Platinum card so I have access to their benefits. Completely worthless card to actually use for transactions outside of the USA though.

3) Replace Your Shaving Cream or Foam With Shaving Oil

Shaving oil is a shaving cream/foam replacement that packs up much smaller than even travel sized shaving products. It’s also good for both men and women.

Shaving oil is not the same as pre-shave oil. Pre-shave oil is a conditioning oil used before your shaving cream/foam. Shaving oil, on the other hand, is used in place of shaving cream/foam.

I personally use Pacific Shaving Oil and love it more than any other shaving product I’ve ever used. One tiny bottle is good for 50-100 shaves depending on how many drops of oil you need to use. I use 8-9 drops per shave.

Just as important as being a minimalist product, shaving oil provides a very smooth, close, shave. I have horribly sensitive skin and Pacific Shaving Oil is the only product I’ve ever used that keeps me from getting razor burn. (I think it’s the only company I’m a fan of (err, I mean Like of, haha) on Facebook.)

4) Pack Your Own Towl

That’s not a misspelling. I’m referring to the MSR Packtowl. It’s a highly absorbent towel that packs up like a deck of cards. It may not be luxurious, but it’s small, light, dries incredibly quickly, and gets the job done.

It’s a must in the bag of any minimalist, ultra-light, traveler.

If you’re staying in hotels this isn’t relevant for you, of course. But the PackTowl is indispensible if you’re camping, hosteling, or CouchSurfing.

5) Vapur-ize Your Water

I forgot to write about this in my updated packing list because I didn’t use it in India or Thailand. Been using it daily here in Poland. Speaking of Thailand, on the streets all around Chiang Mai there are purified bottle refill stations for big 5 liter water bottles. It costs only 1-2 Baht (2-6 US pennies) for a refill. I do have video of the process and will post it some day. :) Tangent over …

The Vapur anti-bottle, available through Vapur.us or Amazon ($7 more expensive on Amazon), is one of those products I can’t believe I didn’t come up with myself. Not only is it BPA-free, but it rolls up tiny.

Let me repeat that last part: the Vapur water bottle rolls up. It rolls up! Which means you can take a reusable water bottle with you anywhere.

You might be thinking “Doesn’t buying a new water bottle go against what minimalism is all about?”

Not necessarily.

Minimalism isn’t only about not buying stuff. It’s about living with the essentials and not overconsuming.

If you regularly buy bottles of water you now have no excuse not to take a reusable bottle with you everywhere. The Vapur fits anywhere.

And if you already have a bulky reusable water bottle give it to a family member or friend.

Traveling with a 16oz (almost half liter) water bottle that folds or rolls up simply makes more sense than any other option.

I hereby declare you ready to travel the world with the bare minimum. The absolute essentials. When you have the best time of your life thank yourself for having the courage to be a minimalist.

#####

I’ve had lots of new friends visiting here in the past few days. Is that you? Hi! I’m Karol (Carl not Carol). Thank you for stopping by. I write about fun things like traveling the world, minimalism, challenging authority and ourselves, and working from anywhere via a laptop. I don’t know how many thing I own (I’ve never counted) but I live out of a 32L backpack and own 3 t-shirts. :) Welcome! I hope you stick around.

How To Live Anywhere: The Official Guide To Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom!

The massive How To Live Anywhere course launches today. A short message of thanks …

You can now get How To Live Anywhere right here! –> http://www.ridiculouslyextraordinary.com/how-to-live-anywhere-course/

I worked hard on this course. And (shh), I already added a bonus (2 bonuses for the Long Haul edition!) that’s not even listed on the sales page. ;) More bonuses to come as well!

This is my flagship, evergreen, product. I hope, if you pick it up, it affects lots of change in your life. If you don’t pick it up, I hope this blog is doing so.

I’ve been really inspired by all the comments/e-mails/tweets I’ve been getting lately. If you’ve written in and thanked me, know that I get just as much inspiration from you as you get from me. (Of course, I already responded to you if you wrote in, so you may already know that. hehe)

So, today is a day of thanks.

Thank you for continually reading and supporting. Even if you’re not planning on buying anything from me I want you here.

Thanks to a whole lot of people who are helping out with the launch today (either logistically or with a promotion) or who I interviewed for the How To Live Anywhere course. I will do a full write-up this coming Sweet Shit Saturday #010 (Giving Thanks Edition).

It’s a lot of people. Until you’re behind the scenes of an orchestrated (meaning, planned out) launch you don’t realize how many people come together to make one work.

If you’re into what I do here and want to pick up How To Live Anywhere, here you go: http://www.ridiculouslyextraordinary.com/how-to-live-anywhere-course/

Yours in Freedom Fighting,

Karol

The Thrill of $10k In A Day (and Why Monetary Goals Are Worthless)

I discuss the thrill of $10k profit in a day and then get into how to set goals that matter …

It’s not pre-launch week anymore. How To Live Anywhere launches tomorrow! I’m so fired up. I’m really looking forward to unleashing this bad assery on the world.

What we’ve covered so far:

Monday – How I Created My First 6-Figure Business For $119.40

Thursday – Why I Quit (or How To Go From $10k/month to $0/month Overnight)

Saturday – Sweet Shit Saturday #009 (Business Building Edition)

Today’s article is about, quite possibly, the most important lesson I’ve learned in life.

“What?! What are you talking about?! Shut. Up!”

I had just told a friend of mine that I pulled in $9,000 in 1 hour and I think her reaction was warranted. By the time the product I was selling had sold out 4 hours later I pulled in just a tad over $20k profit.

I was really proud of myself. It was a crazy adrenaline high and it was almost surreal. By the way, I don’t state any of this to brag, but just to show you what is possible. And, more than that, to show you why monetary goal setting is worthless.

I’ve already discussed building trust, giving good content, and the power of an e-mail list. Well, those things all came together on that day.

But that wasn’t the first or the last time I pulled in over $10k profit in one day.

In How To Live Anywhere I interview a guy named John Reese. I paid $4,500 to attend his private workshop in March of 2004. Later that year he released the core information from that workshop in a huge course called Traffic Secrets that cost almost $1,000.

It was August 17, 2004. John pulled in $1 million that day. Me? I sold 35 copies of his course, getting a $500 commission on each one. $17,500 for selling a product that was not mine. That was my first 5 figure day as an affiliate (also not my last).

That is the power of giving people what they want. If you give enough people what they want, you will get what you want. I didn’t have the biggest audience, but I was one of John’s top affiliates anyway. That’s a recurring theme in my life. Besides the temporary setback I wrote about in Why I Quit, my thinking has always been to give, give, give. And then I always got what I wanted.

The problem: At the time all I wanted was money.

Nothing else mattered. I didn’t need all the money I was making, but my goal was to make more, more, more. Fill the bank account! I wanna see lots of zeros! Sell! Sell! Sell!

Listen, I know it sounds like I’m complaining about money. That’s not it. It’s very hard to tell someone “money, as a goal, is dumb” during a time when so many people are affected financially.

While things may be a little more difficult these days, a fun shift is happening. I see a lot of people who are getting back to basics.

Can’t afford cable TV? Awesome, you get to spend more time reading to your kids, or taking walks, or enjoying true peace and quiet.

Can’t afford to go out partying every night? Sweet, invite some friends over, cook out, hang, bond.

Why Money Is A Useless Goal

Money goals are empty numbers and life is not a contest. Making more money doesn’t make us more special. Making more money doesn’t make us happier.

The happiest wealthy people I know grew that wealth as an aside. It happened because they were focused, living awesome lives, giving people what they wanted, but without a number as an end goal. The most depressed wealthy people I know have only money as the goal.

The happiest “regular Joes” I know are happy because they’re focused, living awesome lives, giving people what they want, and setting experiential goals instead of monetary goals. The most depressed “regular Joes” I know are depressed because their end goal is money.

Do you see the connection?

Monetarily wealthy or not, happiness is not determined by a dollar amount.

Depression, whether someone is a millionaire or not, is rooted in some random dollar amount.

Why You Don’t Need $10k In A Day

I’m not going to say it’s not awesome making $10k in a day. It is. But it’s no more awesome than spending an afternoon in the park (Park Zachodni here in Wroclaw, Poland for example!), taking the time to enjoy the cool breeze and the hot sun.

We do need money to live. And we also need money to Live Anywhere. That’s a fact.

We just need a lot less than we think we need.

Money Goals vs Experiential Goals

A short while ago I talked about Living Dreams vs Chasing Dreams. Setting monetary goals is chasing. Setting experiential goals is living.

For example, maybe you want to do what I did and learn how to build a guitar from scratch in India. Awesome experiential goal!

Now, figure out the cost: $1,200 for the course, $1,000 for an economy flight (unless you do what I did and use Frequent Flier Miles to fly business class), $400 for a room and food for 3 weeks. That’s only $2,600 for an unforgettable experience, complete with take home prize (the guitar!).

Tell me which one of these goals feels better to you:

– I will make an extra $2,600 in the next 90 days.

or

– I will make an extra $2,600 in the next 90 days so I can experience the bad assery of spending 3 weeks hand building a guitar in India!

When you feel a goal something clicks in your brain. Solely monetary goals are unfeeling and soulless. When you set a goal based on an amazing experience your synapses will start firing and help you focus on achieving.

The Time Has Come

How To Live Anywhere is coming tomorrow. (Yay!) I will post on this blog at 10:30am EST to let you know, but if you want a headstart to get the fast action bonus just get on the Priority Access List below.

By the way, the process for pulling in $17,500 like I talked about above is the exact same process I write about in The Anatomy of a 4 Figure Affiliate Promo case study, which is part of the How To Live Anywhere course. The difference is, this recent 4-figure-in-a-day monetary goal had a purpose. I’ll let you know about that another time. ;)

This has been my first really public launch in a long while. Whether you decide to buy How To Live Anywhere tomorrow or not, thank you so much for sticking around!

And, as always, results are not typical. Your results may not match mine or they might blow mine away. Remember, this is not a contest. :)

Tell me what you thought about it …

Sweet Shit Saturday #009 (Business Building Edition)

Launch lessons learned, product road maps, how to get more tweets/comments, how to take action, and more! Plus sneak peak at How To Live Anywhere …

(That photo is supposed to be funny…or double entendre-esque. It’s a photo of a business building, but what I’m referring to in the title of this post is building a business. Why am I explaining myself? Did I just confuse you? I confused myself. Should I stop talking to myself via my own blog? Did I just enter a wormhole? Science, help me.)

We’re getting so close to launch for How To Live Anywhere! Next Tuesday, June 8, 10:30am EST! I am really happy about what I’ve created. I’m not sure if I’ve ever been as pleased with a work of my own art as this course. (note: the course is now available!)

I was talking with my mastermind group a few days ago and straight up said “I’m putting so much into this I have no idea what I’ll be able to create for my next product.” Which is fine by me. My goal is to wow everybody who looks at How To Live Anywhere, and I’m sure I’ve done it.

Even Charlie, the awesome designer who is creating the PDF guides for me, said “I love your affiliate guide. It is really really good. I read the whole thing and am reading it again tonight because it’s full of straightforward info. Dig it.” The affiliate guide he’s referring to is a 12 page guide called The Anatomy of a 4 Figure Affiliate Promotion that is part of the How To Live Anywhere course. Everybody who has seen this guide has had nothing but positive things to say. I’m loving this!

Here’s a sneak peak at the cover design Charlie created for the core How To Live Anywhere guide:

Charlie rules.

Let’s get into some links, shall we? Today we’re focusing on business building …

How To Live Anywhere Pre-Launch

I’ve shared some fun business lessons with you this week. The comments/tweets/e-mails you’ve made were all so awesome. Thank you!

Monday – How I Created My First 6-Figure Business For $119.40

Thursday – Why I Quit (or How To Go From $10k/month to $0/month Overnight)

This coming Monday – The Thrill of $10k In A Day (and Why Monetary Goals Are Worthless)

Business Lessons From Around The Blogosphere

Launch Lessons Learned: Q&A With Nathan Hangen of Beyond Blogging by Dave Navarro

Considering this is pre-launch week (like shark week … but without the sharks, and with more pre, whatever that is … Prefontaine?) this was a good article to read.  I don’t necessarily agree with the sentiment about launches being tiring though. Lots of stuff to do? Yes. Last minute tweaks and lots and lots and lots of e-mail conversations. Plus writing guest posts and answering interviews. I love it. It’s what Seth Godin might call a sprint. Not sustainable over the long haul, but definitely sustainable for a few days/weeks.

Frazzled? Overwhelmed? Try Creating a Product Roadmap by Erica Douglass

I’ve been following Erica’s blog for a long time. When she was 26 she sold a Web hosting company for $1.1 million and then started sharing her knowledge with the world. Rock! If you’ve been unsure or overwhelmed as far as product creation goes, this article will help. Erica is planning on releasing 10 products this year (whoa!) and this is her process.

How To Organize A Sales Page To Avoid Overwhelm by Mark Silver

Wow, perfect timing on this. I’m a good sales page copy writer (like anything, lots of practice helps), but I’ve never been good at the actual layout of pages. The collapsible elements WordPress plugin that Mark mentions looks like an awesome option for making the layout less overwhelming. I may try it for Tuesday, although I very well may not. We might both be surprised! :)

Buck Up and Make The Decision by Annie Sorensen

This is a video post and Annie states exactly what I’m a huge advocate of. Stop making excuses, start taking action. When it comes to starting a business, you just have to decide you want it, and stop making excuses about why you can’t make it happen.

Mass Engagement: How To Get Hundreds of Tweets & Comments On Your Blog Posts by Glen Allsopp

Glen really rocks it hard on a regular basis, and this article is no exception. If you’re wondering how he gets such a large amount of tweets and comments on his blog posts and how you can do the same, then check this out.

That’s all for this week. I hope you’re getting value out of this pre-launch. As you can see I’m not hard selling and even if you don’t plan to buy anything from me the articles are legitimate lessons, not disguised sales pitches. It’s basically like any other time on this blog, only the articles are all business focused.

Questions/comments/want to build empires (complete with real castles and moats!) together? You know what to do …

Why I Quit (or How To Go From $10k/month Profit To $0/month Overnight)

The story of why I shut down a 6 figure business one day out of the blue …

“I’ll give you $50,000 + 50% of the revenue for life.”

That was one of the many offers I received for the 6 figure business I talked about on Monday.

4 hour work week?

I had that business so automated I think it was 4 hour work month. All physical products were fulfilled by a fulfillment center in Ohio, all customer support was outsourced for $15/hour to a really awesome Canadian company, all digital sales were fulfilled via autoresponder/Paypal/Clickbank/2Checkout, bookkeeping/accounting was outsourced, Authorize.net merchant account deposits came in every day like clockwork … it was completely hands off.

And that’s where the problems started appearing.

My life went from trying to provide as much possible value as I could to each fan, subscriber, and customer to just wanting to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible.

I was turning into a greedy son of a bitch.

I didn’t know what to do, but I began looking for a way out.

I e-mailed a few people who I respected and told them I’m selling. I had a 50,000 subscriber double opt-in e-mail list, so in addition to the business being completely hands off, I had some really valuable assets on my hands.

I got some really great offers. A few were in the 6 figure range, but I think the $50k + 50% revenue was the best one, simply because it was a guaranteed income stream.

From $10k/month To $0/month

One day (June 15, 2005 – did I ever mention my brain remembers everything?), without consulting anybody about it, I just shut it all down. Profits went from over $10k/month to $0/month.

And I felt relief.

You might think it’s stupid “throwing away” that much money. Many people told me I was insane.

But I “bought” something more important than cash: integrity, dignity, pride.

See, that infoproduct business sold the “how to sell on eBay” type products I talked about in How I Created My First 6 Figure Biz. I had all but stopped selling on eBay by 2005. So I had been selling products teaching people how to sell on eBay while I was no longer actively doing so.

Even though my eBay knowledge was vast (marketing is marketing whether it’s eBay, offline, online, whatever) I didn’t feel good about it and quitting this business was the only respectable plan of action.

Going through that taught me very important lessons about treating customers with respect and providing massive value …

How To Be Ignored

The following seemingly has nothing to do with business, but there’s an important message in these words …

A little over a year ago I was seeing a girl. One day, after she had just spent 2 straight weeks at my house, she gave me a kiss, walked out of my house, and went home.

I called her later that day to say something silly, but she didn’t pick up. No big deal. I don’t expect people to answer every single phone call. So I left a message. And didn’t hear back. A day later I called again, wondering if something had happened. Again, no response. A text went unanswered as well.

I didn’t know whether she died or what was going on. Whatever it was, not knowing and being ignored like that was painful.

The Pursuit Of Every Single Connection

It wasn’t until a week later that I heard from her. I’ll spare you the details. The important thing is that being ignored reinforced an important lesson about how to treat people.

That’s why I’m so adamant about responding to every comment, every e-mail, and every tweet. It’s not a scalable strategy at all, but it feels good to get a response from someone you take the time to connect with, doesn’t it? I know how much I hate being ignored and I did a lot of ignoring that last year of running the automated-beyond-belief eBay how to business.

Will I always be able to respond to every single connection? To be honest: no. But I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. Today? Yes, I can respond. More than that, I want to respond. It’s not a burden. I don’t feel like I’m wasting time. I love it.

I’m fired up about truly helping 100 people achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom. At its core, that is what this site is about, after all.

A little while ago I talked about establishing trust. Shutting down a $10k/month business instead of selling it or continuing on with it really boiled down to re-establishing trust with the world … and myself.

Today I do my best to over-deliver. That’s why this blog is free. It’s my payment to you. Yes, How To Live Anywhere is coming June 8, and I will release more products in the future. (Although I have no clue what those will be since I put everything into How To Live Anywhere.) But it doesn’t matter to me whether you ever buy anything or not. If you want to connect, I’m happy to connect. I want to rock your world with what I do here. And in return all I ask is that you keep rocking my world by reading / commenting / tweeting / sharing / e-mailing. :)

How To Be Trustworthy, Ethical, and Still Rock Hard and Live Anywhere

You don’t have to resort to underhanded tactics to make money. Yes, there is millions being made by shady marketing, and you can do that if you want. No judgments, it doesn’t matter to me. (Although you should probably stop reading this blog if that’s your game.)

What does matter to me is getting the message out that being ethical is OK. You can still make a ton of money by being cool. You can live an awesome life and have anything you could ever want. Whether that’s a tiny house in the woods, a 10,000 square foot mansion in Beverly Hills, or a non-stop vagabond live-and-work-anywhere-life full of amazing experiences, it is all possible.

And you know what? Every night, when you lay your head upon your freshly fluffed pillow, you’ll have a great night’s sleep. No stress, no strain, just love.

Note: Results are not typical. I don’t know whether you’ll ever be in a position to shut down a 6 figure business, much less actually run a 6 figure business. Hustle, focus, work hard, and awesome things can happen! ;)

How I Created My First 6-Figure Business For $119.40

The first 6 figure business I built would cost just $119.40 to start today. Full story inside …

I’d already been working for myself for a couple years doing Web design (back then a chap didn’t need to have sick skills like Charlie, Norcross, and Reese have), selling on eBay, and just straight up hustling before I started my first extremely profitable business in 2002 for just $119.40 (back then it cost a little more, this is what it would cost today).

If you’re a member of the Freedom Frighters you know a tiny bit of this story, but I’m going to go in-depth now. Strap yourself in and hold on tight! (Err, if you actually do that, please first pull your car to the side of the road before continuing on reading this. Safety first!)

The Beginnings: Hustle

How it all began: In the year 2000 I met a girl who sold stuff on eBay. I’d already been dilly dallying on eBay, but she taught me about a fun little niche. She taught me how to find free stuff to sell on eBay. This wasn’t a hugely profitable business (I’m getting to that part!), but for college students working very part time it was awesome and very consistent.

There were 2 main aspects of this “free auction profits” niche. First was getting lots of free after rebate stuff from stores like CompUSA, Staples, and OfficeMax. Sometimes this stuff was beyond free. We’d actually sometimes get paid after the rebates were sent! The second aspect of the free stuff was going to record stores and getting free stickers/cassettes (yes!)/CDs/posters/paraphernalia that street teams would leave in stores promoting bands. We would never take ALL of the stuff, just a few of everything. There was (and probably still is) a huge market for band stuff on eBay.

All in all, this business could pull in $500-$1000 profit in a good month. Again, not hugely profitable, and it really depended on if the rebates were rocking hard or not, but it was not especially time consuming. (Side note: I was also beginning to dabble in affiliate marketing at this time. Like I said, hustling!)

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

More Hustle. Hustle Times Two. Hustle Hustle Even!

All throughout my eBay selling (even before the free stuff) I was a member of a small eBay sellers forum/message board. I spent a lot of time answering questions and also getting help. I had no Web site, and nothing to sell. I was just there because I loved learning about auctions and what others were doing. And I also thrived on teaching new auction sellers the ins and outs.

One day I e-mailed the guy who ran the forum. We’d had many previous contacts, but this time it was something new. I’d read about people selling these things called information products, specifically eBooks. So I e-mailed him, told him about the free stuff I sold on eBay, and asked him if he thought it would make a good eBook. He already had an information product to sell, so I figured I should get advice from someone with experience. (<– So important I did this.)

His response?

“Yes! Write it! I’ll promote it!”

Wowza! Sweet. :)

So what did I do?

I got my ass in gear, wrote the guide, wrote the sales page, designed the Web site/eBook cover, and released that eBook, Free Auction Profits, within 10 days!

Then I e-mailed Jim, the guy who ran that auction forum, with a copy and an affiliate link.

What did he do? He promoted it without the affiliate link! He said it was thanks for all the awesome help I provided on a regular basis in the forum. :)

First Sale (!!!) and Goal Setting

From idea to first sale was just 10 days. This was October of 2002. (In 2006, after I stopped selling that product and quit that business I put up a copy of the eBook for free at FreeAuctionProfits.com. It’s strictly for posterity so please don’t take anything written there as gospel nowadays. It probably isn’t valid. Also, please excuse the formatting and AdSense. I don’t really know how to edit that site now.)

My goal with that information business was to make just $400/week. On top of what I was already making with other stuff, it would mean I’d never have to get a job after University. I hit that $400/week goal within a month. So I doubled the goal to $800/week. I reached that a few months into 2003.

Stepping It Up To 6 Figures

Next goal: $100k/year. It took a little bit longer to reach that goal. If you remember reading Sweet Shit Saturday #004, I talked about a guy named John Reese. With the stuff I learned from him I turned this tiny little information product business into a 6 figure earner in 2004, when I was 23 years old.

The gist of how I did that: I stepped up my eBay game by learning about wholesaling and drop shipping and then released a $97 physical (as in, real mail!) product that taught how to find wholesalers. With the higher price point I could offer affiliates a nice commission on a great product and still make ~$30 per sale after all fees. I sold low 5 figures worth on launch day. A few thousand went to affiliates, but along with all of my other income streams, it was my first $10k profit day. We’ll talk about that (and at least one other 5 figure profit day, as an affiliate not merchant) next Monday.

Breaking Down The Costs Of My First 6 Figure Business

Let’s break down the costs of what that first tiny info product business that changed my life would cost today …

1) Domain Name: $9.69/year (or free)

My domain name advice is simple. I like .com the most although I do own a bunch of .net and .org domains. Choose a name that sounds good (RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com) or a choose a name that has a bit of a benefit already built in (HowToLiveAnywhere.com). Length of name doesn’t matter much since you’ll be doing your promoting online.

I’ve been using NameCheap.com to register domains lately. Good prices and free domain privacy. I used to use GoDaddy, but switched for my last 9 domains (including HowToLiveAnywhere.com).

You can honestly use any domain registration service you want. The Web host I use will actually give you one free domain …

2) Web hosting: $95.40/year

For $95.40 per year (including domain name) you can use the same host I use: BlueHost. Many people don’t recommend them. Many people do. They’re not perfect. No Web host that costs less than $10/month will be perfect. Hell, I used to have $500/month managed servers and things weren’t perfect with those either. Don’t get too caught up in choosing a Web host. Every time BlueHost has been down they’ve been good about providing quick status updates. And while my wish is that they’d never be down, I know things happen with computers.

Note: BlueHost is on WordPress.org’s recommended hosts list because they make installing WordPress really easy.

3) Credit Card Processor/eBook Delivery Service: $5/month or $49.95 one-time

When it comes to your first info product I can only recommend these two: e-junkie.com (use coupon EJVIDEOS for a 67 day free trial) and clickbank.com. E-Junkie is $5/month and Clickbank is a $49.95 one-time fee. Each have their benefits and downfalls. For what it’s worth, Free Auction Profits (the infoproduct I talked about above) was launched on Clickbank. I’m using E-Junkie for How To Live Anywhere. E-Junkie has much lower fees (i.e no fees beyond the $5/month) than Clickbank ($1 + 7.5% per sale). But Clickbank take care of paying your affiliates. With E-Junkie you have to login once/month, download a file that you upload to Paypal, and pay your affiliates yourself. It takes less than 10 minutes. :)

4) E-mail list management/Autoresponder: $19/month

Double opt-in e-mail lists have been responsible for generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for me. Double opt-in simply means that somebody signs up for your e-mail list (for example, my Freedom Fighters ecourse), gets an e-mail asking them to confirm subscription, and clicks a link inside that e-mail before you can actually send them any messages. This is the anti-spam approach to e-mail marketing. It’s permission based marketing and completely on the up-and-up.

More than anything, building an e-mail list is the key to starting a successful long-term online business. I interviewed 2 experts on list building for How To Live Anywhere, that’s how much I believe in it.

I use AWeber.com. It starts at $19/month. As your list grows in size your costs will increase a bit. But that’s a good thing. If your costs are increasing your profits will too (especially if you do what the 2 dudes I interviewed in How To Live Anywhere tell you to do).

And that’s it. Free domain + $95.40/year Web hosting + $5/month e-junkie account + $19/month Aweber account = $119.40

For $119.40 you can get started with your own info product empire. Technology is awesome. :)

Note: Results are not typical. There are too many variables for me to say you will have the same success as me. Forgive me for being honest, but there is no magic pill. Take focused action and hustle! ;)